


Space Road Trip

by catnip_wentworth



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Angst, Awkward Flirting, I also have copious notes over dibs degrees, M/M, Mental Health Issues, OOC, Stubborness, always know when your meds are gonna run out and get them refilled before hand, and has three different sci degrees, being of friends to lovers, break downs over being almost thirty, breakdown over not having accomplished anything by thirty, despite me having a whole pre-story timeline written out, dont be like dib kids, fight me, he built a spaceship for shits and giggles, hes totally accomplished a lot of things, horrible first kisses, in his defense hes been in space for a year, just mentioned, piercings on the dib, running out of medication, space travel, strange music tastes, they also dont realize that they are flirtinng, they dont happen in the story, this may only be a one shot, to the point of probably, yelling because you dont know what else to do, yes theyre 'real science' but can also totes be applied to the paranormal, zim is oddly compassionate
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-23 04:22:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13779603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catnip_wentworth/pseuds/catnip_wentworth
Summary: Dib and Zim are a year into and trip through space and Dib is angry about something or another and Zim is confused and worried.





	Space Road Trip

**Author's Note:**

> this was supposed to be fluffy bs with Zim's first song to play being Genghis Khan by Miike Snow. that song isnt even in the fic now. I sat down to write and angst happened. so yeah please read it and comment.

They were arguing over whose song was supposed to play next as they climbed back into the ship. Dib and Zim had been off of it for quite awhile ,3 earth days Dib’s watch said, and had not bothered to mark who went last when they got out on this planet, truth be told they forgot most things upon landing, this whole planet was devoted to donuts.

“Zim- really!” a very pointy elbow to the inner hip-  
“Dib very really!” a shoulder grabbed by one large hand-  
“ just cut it out its my turn” two three fingered hands shoved into a face bearing glasses-  
“Never! I both will not stop and it is not your turn” thin wrist grabbed and thrown to the side-  
“okay for shits sake man.” Dib standing with his hands on his hips exasperatedly.

“I am not a man though?” Zim mirror Dib stance then tilts his head to the side in confusion.

“You- Zim dude-”

“I am also not a dude”

“Alright you scaley little shit” one steps towards Zim.

“I’m not fecal matter either” Zim now is wearing a ridiculous smirk, he knows what's hes doing.

“I cannot believe I willingly subject myself to this level of shi- oh wait I can because I’ve done it my whoooooooleeee life havent I Zim?” Dib throws his arms up in frustration, moving past Zim to his room.

“Waait wait wait waaaaaitttT” Zim throws his arms around dibs waist and locks himself in place, “if it will keep you from being mopey and squishy Zim will let you have the radio first.”

“Its not really about that Zim, just leave me alone for a bit.” he keeps walking even with Zim clamped around his waist. “Please.”

“I thought today was good?” Zim slowly slides his arms off of Dib.

“It was and then it wasn't okay? This just happens sometimes just… fuck its my turn to drive isn't? Fuck fuck fuck.” he turns around and heads towards the cockpit.

“You dont have to if youre not up to it. I dont like your flying anyway.” Zim almost whispers compared to his usual and previous volume getting quieter with the last half.

“I know you dont like my flying, but I am definitely up to it even if its just to piss you off.” Dib grumbles as he shoves past zim.

“I- I want to talk to you about this Dib, its this is happening more often. Zim may be worried for your health” regains composure and crosses his arms Dib slows then completely stops in the middle of the narrow doorway.

“But I don’t.” he finishes walking through the doorway and slams his fist against the close button.

“I’m sorry?” Zim sinks to the floor in defeat.

Hours later Space Oddity by David Bowie starts playing and Zim Quickly sits up as the cockpit door zips open.

“Have you been laying there this whole time?” Dib crosses his arms and leans against the doorframe.

“Yes”

“Oh”

“Do you-”

“No”

“Please, maybe theres something Zim can-”

“No Zim this is my problem, I can handle it okay?”

“Okay, but...”

“But what Zim?”

“If it happens again while we’re having a good day you have to tell me.”

“I cant promise you that.”

“Please.” its soft and quiet so different then how Zim always his and Dib realizes he may have actually fucked up this time, farther than all the previous times.

“I'll try. Okay.”

“Yeah.”

“Its your turn to play a song.”

“Oh”

“Come on spaceboy im not going to hurt you unless you ask me too.” Dib shifts off the door frame and into the small cockpit and Zim scuttles in afterward.

“What does that mean?”

“Dont play that game you know what it means.”

“I do.”

He puts on What Kind Of Man by Florence + the Machine and then proceeds to hijack the stereo to play the entire How Big How Blue How Beautiful album. Dib lets him because he knows it makes Zim happy and though he'd never admit it he does feel pretty connected to a lot of the emotions expressed in these songs. Maybe he'd tell Zim that, maybe if it was a really really good day. The whole nearly hour long album is spent with Zim curled in the pilot's chair and Dib lean-looming against the wall right next to it, neither of them say anything as the autopilot steers them through the black of space. Near the end of those fifty minutes a yellow-green planet with a blue moon and two pink moons comes up on the right. A tropical desert planet with near constant night Dib recalls, he glances at Zim who is obviously looking at the planet and was totally not looking at Dib just before he turned to look at him.

“Hey, Zim, uh I dont mean to be like that you know? And not to derail the conversation I’m starting but you do this too.”

“Zim knows both of those things, something I dont know though is why you’re talking about it when you’ve been telling me you didnt want to?”

“I changed my mind, I’m allowed that lizard” Dib sighs heavily and slides down the wall to sit in a semi crumpled heap leaned against the seat of the pilots chair. Everything is either pink or bare metal gray the ship being made from the leftovers of two irken ships and random bits from that one really good junk yard in town. He tilts his head up to look back out the window they've almost completely passed the planet now, was that one they had planned a stop on he wonders.

“Sometimes its hard to not be angry about everything, my dad, the human race, Gaz, you, the way you used to be compared to now, the same thing but with me and how and when I finally decided to do something about that near twenty year rut we had ourselves in its to give a big middle finger to the planet I feverishly spent most of the first decade of that rut trying to protect from you - I’m almost thirty now Zim THIRTY HOW THE HELL DID I EVEN MAKE IT THIS FAR?” he swiftly turns his head to look ay Zim whos just watching him have his little freak out.

“Thats a pretty big portion of my life zim like the average lifespan of a human is seventy-nine years thirty is more than a third of that, and two thirds of that more than a third of my life was spent obsessing over you. And to what end? What have either of us accomplished since you landed? Hmm? Sure I have like three degrees and I built a spaceship just to see if I could but really, what have we done these past seventeen years?” Dib lays his head against Zims thigh and sighs.

“All of the things that have been accomplished were accomplished by you Dib. I’ve done nothing but nearly kill you on multiple occasions.”

“Then we’ve accomplished nothing”

“No you’ve done everything and more than I ever thought you capable of. You earned multiple science degrees, you told off your father and your sister, you built a spaceship on a dare, you’ve been in space on a road trip with an alien for nearly a year. You’ve done so many amazing things Dib.”

“Why does it sound like there’s an implied ‘I’m proud of you’ in there?”

“Because there is”

“I think I took to many.” Dib shifts so he can look at Zims face “or maybe you did?”

“Took to many what”

“Drugs Zim, like the ones I have to take to keep my anxiety down? That I’ve been out of anyway.”

“This is anxiousness? All of this?”

“No but a good chunk of it is, there a few other things bothering me but I ran out of the other meds about two weeks ago. I thought I’d be okay.” He hides his face against Zims thigh and covers part of his face with his hands.

“Why didn’t you tell me.”

“It’s my problem and I was handling it” slightly muffled.

“Zim is actually worried now” he moves his hand to Dibs hair slowly and carefully patting his head, this is how to show friendly affection right Zim asks himself.

“I-“ Dib interrupts himself with a startled noise “ Zim why are you touching me?”

“Zim is trying to be friendly and comforting to you.”

“Oh” Dib moves slightly and gets lightly smacked on the forehead.

“ Why did you make me do that Dib-stink?”

“I didn’t make you do anything Zim, you did that yourself.”

“No the Almighty Zim does not make those sorts of-“ Dib maneuvers so he can kiss Zim “- stupid blunders.” Zim finishes after Dib breaks the kiss. “Why?”

“Mostly just to see your reaction, of course it didn’t work to shut you up more than a few seconds but also because I’ve wanted to try that for quite sometime now. I thought it was nice but if you didn’t that’s fine we can-“ Zim puts one finger on Dibs lips and his quickening soon to be self deprecating rant is cut short.

“Firstly I would be okay with trying that again, secondly thank whatever deity is listening that I wasn’t the only one thinking about that, finally I’m not entirely sure how I feel about that kiss it was a little rushed and I was not prepared.” Zim removes his finger from Dibs mouth and looks at him.

Dib looks much the same as he did when they first met, wild hair, golden eyes half hidden by super thick lenses, horrible fashion sense. Some things had changed though, he had multiple piercings, the beginnings of wrinkles were starting to show around his mouth and his eyes, he was much taller. just in this moment Zim noticed his face was flushed and Dib was wearing an expression Zim hadn’t seen on him before, he couldn’t quite place it, admiration perhaps?

“Zim I’m going to play my song now okay?”

“Yeah, sure.” He quickly let go of Dib, he hadn’t even realized he was holding him. “I’m sorry for that.”

“For what?”

“Making that weird”

“You didn’t make it weird Zim I did by kissing you in the first place.”

“But I” Zim just trails off not know how to say what he wants to.

“I just need to get my meds and I’ll be back to normal okay?” He puts on Basket Case by Green Day.

“But isn’t taking medication to change the way your brain functions not normal?”

“Zim watch what you saying right now.” Dib sighs again “look okay I know what you mean but also you just told me I’ve been worrying you. Because I’m not acting how you’ve gotten used to me acting, which can be classified as normal okay. So what I meant was I’ll be how you’re used to me being as soon as I get back on my meds.”

“Oh” Zim just sort of stares across the dash and out the window “What about the kissing?”

“What about it Zim”

“I’d like another if that’s alright with you.”

“I guess”

**Author's Note:**

> for real plz comment I want to know if I should put another chapter on or not.


End file.
